Part 6 (1/2)

You can put these oysters into small dishes, just as you did the creamed oysters, or into large scallop-sh.e.l.ls, and bake them only ten or fifteen minutes. In serving, put a small sprig of parsley into each.

Pigs in Blankets

These were great fun to make, and Margaret often begged to get them ready for company.

15 large oysters.

15 very thin slices of bacon.

Sprinkle each oyster with a very little salt and pepper. Trim the rind from the bacon and wrap each oyster in one slice, pinning this ''blanket'' tightly on the back with a tiny j.a.panese wooden toothpick.

Have ready a hot frying-pan, and lay in five oysters, and cook till the bacon is brown and the edges of the oysters curl, turning each over once. Put these on a hot plate in the oven with the door open, and cook five more, and so on. Put them on a long, narrow platter, with slices of lemon and sprigs of parsley around. Or you can put each one on a strip of toast which you have dipped in the gravy in the pan; this is the better way. This dish must be eaten very hot, or it will not be good.

Creamed Fish

2 cups of cold fish.

1 cup of white sauce.

Pick any cold fish left from dinner into even bits, taking out all the bones and skin, and mix with the hot white sauce. Stir until smooth, and add a small half-teaspoonful of chopped parsley.

You can put this in a b.u.t.tered baking-dish and cover the top with crumbs and bits of b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven, or you can put it in small dishes and brown also, or you can serve it just as is, in little dishes.

Creamed Lobster

1 lobster, or the meat from 1 can.

1 large cup of white or cream sauce.

Take the lobster out of the sh.e.l.l and clean it; Bridget will have to show you how the first time. Or, if you are using canned lobster, pour away all the juice and pick out the bits of sh.e.l.l, and find the black string which is apt to be there, and throw it away.

Cut the meat in pieces as large as the end of your finger, and heat it in the sauce till it steams. Put in a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a pinch of cayenne, and a squeeze of lemon. Do not put this in a large dish, but in small ones, b.u.t.tered well, and serve at once. Stand a little claw up in each dish.

Creamed Salmon

1 can salmon.

1 cup of white sauce.

Prepare this dish exactly as you did the plain creamed white fish.

Take it out of the can, remove all the juice, bones, and fat, and put in the white sauce, and cook a moment till smooth. Add a small half-teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, and a squeeze of lemon, and put in a baking-dish and brown, or serve as it is, in small dishes.

Scalloped Lobster or Salmon

1 can of fish, or 1 pint.

1 large cup of cracker or bread crumbs.

1 large cup of white sauce.

Prepare this dish almost as you did the scalloped oysters. Take out all the bones and skin and juice from the fish; b.u.t.ter a baking-dish, put in a layer of fish, then salt and pepper, then a layer of crumbs and b.u.t.ter, and a layer of white sauce, then fish, seasoning, crumbs and b.u.t.ter again, and have the crumbs on top. Dot over with b.u.t.ter and brown in the oven, or serve in small dishes.

Crab Meat in Sh.e.l.ls

You can buy very nice, fresh crab meat in tins, and the sh.e.l.ls also.